Published: Friday, November 2, 2012 at 3:12 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 2, 2012 at 3:12 p.m.

Abused and isolated as a child, homeless during her determination to graduate college, Shawna Machado's fortunes took a dramatic twist Thursday on the set of nationally televised entertainer Steve Harvey in Chicago.

Rocky, the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee mascot, Shawna Machado and Steve Harvey with a scholarship check for Machado on the set of the "Steve Harvey" show in Chicago on Nov. 1.

Photo provided by "Steve Harvey" show

That is where the 40-year-old — and still homeless — social worker discovered, during a taping, she will get a free ride to pursue her master's degree at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.

"They told me something was going to happen toward the end" of the show, says Machado. "But this was huge. I never expected it."

Machado, voted USF Sarasota-Manatee's "Most Outstanding Graduate" when she received her degree in psychology last May, will have $30,000 in tuition covered by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and the university.

"We're thrilled for Shawna," said regional chancellor Dr. Arthur Guilford. "She's a very hard-working, very bright student who was dealt a very hard life. I think her homelessness resonated with everyone, along with the fact that she wants to make a difference in people's lives."

Jane Rose, the university's dean of arts and sciences, was in the Chicago studio Thursday to make the surprise announcement.

"I don't look at what we're doing as a gift," Rose says. "I see it as an investment in the future of our community. Shawna has true leadership ability."

A November broadcast date has been set for this episode of Steve Harvey, which airs locally at 5 p.m. on CW44. Machado, who graduated with a 3.55 grade point average, was invited to share her extraordinary perseverance with Harvey's 1.7 million viewers.

'A ticket out of poverty'

While attending college, Machado slept on Siesta Key Beach, inside her Hyundai Elantra, beneath a tent, and at a rotating circle of friends' homes.

She made connections through Wi-Fi hookups at Starbucks and often showered at a campus restroom.

Maintaining a clean and orderly facade, she joined the Social Justice Initiative, the Psychology Club and Guardian ad Litem as a volunteer. On Nov. 15, she will receive the Florida Commission on the Status of Women's Florida Achievement Award.

Ironically, Machado attributes much of her poise to dysfunctional parenting. She says they were "grooming me to be their ticket out of poverty. I was supposed to marry rich."

"I always had to smile. I had to stand up straight and show good posture. I had to sit with my hands on my lap and be very proper. I had to talk correctly and enunciate all my words," recalls Machado. "Mom told me people were born evil and you had to breed that out of life. It sounds very cultish, but this is all I knew."

Born in Massachusetts, Machado was the youngest of five, all of whom moved out of the alcoholic household as soon as they could. Her late mother worked retail sales; her stepfather was a machinist. The couple changed jobs every year in a cross-country journey that would take them to California through Texas. Machado says she was 5 years old the first time she spent any time in outdoor sunlight.

She dropped out of school at 16 while working three jobs. She ran a 4 a.m. newspaper delivery route seven days a week. She was a babysitter for two hours after school, Monday through Friday, as well as Friday and Saturday nights. She worked at Taco Bell on Saturdays and Sundays. She made A's in school.

"I was lucky to get four, five hours of sleep," she says.

Spending time with the family of a 17-year-old boyfriend gave her the incentive to leave. She watched them eat together at the dinner table, exchange hugs, discuss the news, personal and otherwise.

"My mother would sleep all day and work the night shift. I cooked for my stepfather," Machado recalls. "I was not allowed to eat when he ate."

She would marry her boyfriend, with whom she spent 17 years, and the couple moved to Bradenton. The marriage collapsed into domestic abuse and left Machado with a fractured skull.

Machado would earn her GED and an associate's degree at an online college. Student loans would saddle her with $40,000 in debt, which she is attempting to pay off. Her work-history résumé is eclectic, from dog grooming to managing a doctor's office.

Steering her ship

Hoping to steer her own ship, Machado applied at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and began classes in June 2010.

During the preceding Memorial Day weekend, though, the physician laid her off. By September, she was homeless.

Machado says she dropped literally hundreds of applications at companies and businesses from Tampa to Fort Myers. By December, Machado had a job at a domestic violence shelter in Bradenton, working largely with children ages 7 to 12.

"I think I got more out of it than they did," she says. "I could relate to them, and I knew most of those kids would go back into an abusive environment.

"But the one constant for a kid is school, and that's what I kept telling them — don't worry about your mom, don't worry about your dad, you've got school, and that's what's important.

"College isn't for everybody, but there's something for anybody," she says. "I want them to find that one positive thing about themselves that they can build on."

Now a case manager with the Safe Children Coalition, Machado says she hopes a master's degree will allow her to "help change the education system. Right now, we've got government policing teachers, and it isn't working."

Machado has half a dozen friends she can rely on for lodging, but still spends much of her time in the car. "Sometimes it's just easier that way, to have my own space," she says. "I don't like to stay more than two weeks because I don't want to wear out my welcome."

She will be honored at USFSM's annual scholarship fundraising brunch on Sunday. University organizers also are planning to hold a Steve Harvey show "Watch Party" when Machado's segment runs.

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.